The man who refused a job on the buses in Bristol - which sparked the Bristol Bus Boycott and the subsequent raft of equalities legislation - has finally received an apology in writing from the city.
The letter of apology has been written by the Lord Mayor of Bristol to Guy Reid-Bailey, almost 60 years after a council-owned bus company boss lied to him and said there were no jobs available on the buses, back in 1963.
The apology has been made alongside another move by civic leaders in Bristol in 2022 - bestowing Freedom of the City status on Mr Reid-Bailey and five other leaders of the Bristol Bus Boycott, although four of the six have since passed away.
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The Mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, has revealed plans for an Extraordinary Full Council meeting to bestow the Freedom of the City on Roy Hackett, Guy Reid-Bailey, Barbara Dettering, Owen Henry, Audley Evans and Prince Brown, for their leading role in the Bristol Bus Boycott, which took place for months during the spring and summer of 1963. Fellow organiser Paul Stephenson was given the Freedom of the City back in 2013.
The boycott was accompanied by a huge campaign to end what was described at the time as a ‘colour bar’ - an unofficial bar on any Black or Asian people getting a job either driving or conducting the buses in Bristol.
The campaign, which saw marches, pickets outside bus depots and major political lobbying, was backed by local MPs like Tony Benn, and ultimately forced the Bristol Omnibus Company to cave in and end their racist, but at the time legal, practices. It also then paved the way for the Labour Government of the 1960s to pass a series of new laws outlawing discrimination in the workplace on the grounds of race, religion or gender.
All but two of those receiving the Freedom of the City have since passed away in the 59 years since - Guy Reid-Bailey and Barbara Dettering are still with us. Roy Hackett OBE died earlier this year. His family received a posthumous award of an honorary doctorate at his funeral.
Owen Henry died in 1989, ten years after the then Jamaican President MIchael Manley awarded him the Order of Merit. Like many of the other organisers of the bus boycott, Audley Evans went on to help set up what became the St Pauls Carnival in 1967. He moved to Florida soon after, and passed away in 1991.
The apology from Bristol City Council to Guy Reid-Bailey comes almost ten years after the Unite union, the successor to the TGWU union which worked with managers at the Bristol bus company to enforce a ‘colour bar’, issued its own apology, in February 2013. Then, Laurence Faircloth, the union’s regional secretary said of the union’s stance at the time: “It was completely unacceptable. I can well accept the sense of injustice and pain that has been felt because (of) what happened in Bristol all those years ago.”
Almost ten years on, and Bristol’s Lord Mayor has written to Mr Reid-Bailey for his treatment in 1963. Bristol’s deputy mayor, Cllr Asher Craig, said: “I hope it will show Guy, the boycott leaders, and the wider community who participated in the boycott, how appreciative the city is for them taking a stand against injustice.”
Cllr Amirah Cole added: “I’m especially pleased to hear that Guy Bailey will receive an apology from the Lord Mayor. The Bristol Omnibus Company was run by the predecessor organisation to the Bristol City Council, so it is only right we acknowledge the harm its policy caused and offer him a full, unreserved apology.”
The decision to bestow the Freedom of the City on the two surviving members of the Bristol Bus Boycott campaign team, and posthumously for the other four, was announced by Cllr Craig, who said she was ‘delighted’ to announce the plans. “The Bristol Bus Boycott had a lasting impact not only in our city, but across the UK, as it drew political attention to the treatment black people were facing, which ultimately led to the Race Relations Act – a landmark law that went some way to outlawing racial discrimination,” she said.
“Leading the boycott took tremendous courage. While the boycott is now rightly seen as what it was – a peaceful protest aiming to end racist employment practices – we shouldn’t forget the level of opposition they faced at the time. Bristol has a proud history of peaceful protests – such as the Chartists, the suffragettes, and the Bristol Bus Boycott. All these protests have led to sorely-needed, positive change and changed Bristol for the better. I’m very proud to put forward plans to recognise this,” she added.
In 2014, a special illustrated plaque was unveiled at Bristol Bus Station, honouring the five men who led the boycott - but not Barbara Dettering, who Cllr Craig said had long been overlooked.
“Awarding the leading members of the boycott will hopefully reiterate how proud Bristol is of them for standing up to injustice. I’m particularly pleased that Barbara Dettering will be given this honour. She played an important role in organising the boycott which is often overlooked, so I hope this will show her how much we appreciate her work and her lifetime of service to her community,” she added.
At the time back in 1963, the boycott was not just a campaign that involved Bristol’s black community - a wide range of Bristolians, particularly students, took part in the boycott and marched through the streets demanding an end to the racist practice. Cllr Cole paid tribute to the ordinary Bristolians who got involved too.
“Awarding Freedom of the City status is the highest civic honour that we can give someone, and is reserved for Bristolians who have made outstanding achievements,” she said. “Considering the lasting impact that their campaign had not only for equality in Bristol, but across the UK, awarding the leading members of the boycott the honour is a fitting way to show our appreciation.
“I would also like to acknowledge that while the leaders of the boycott rightly receive plaudits for their campaign, the boycott would not have achieved its aim without the full support of the community. A personal example being my dad, who walked from Avonmouth to Montpelier every day as he refused to break the boycott by getting the bus. The boycott was a shining example of solidarity and what people can achieve when they stick together to campaign against injustice. I hope that awarding the boycott leaders this status will bring attention to their acts and inspire others to stand against prejudice,” she added.
The Freedom of the City awards will be bestowed at an extraordinary full council meeting, scheduled to be held on Tuesday, December 13.
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